The NYTimes, the Gothamist & I love Pearl River

SAINT OF THE MONTH CLUB: SEPTEMBER

Gay Porn Blog: over the top smut quotient.

WEIRDLY FUNNY: We Like The Moon.

EU GOES DUTCH ON GAY RIGHTS. Guardian Unlimited: Gay marriages to get European passports.

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.

The NYTimes talks about "The Role of the Delete Key in Blog".

The question is whether postings should be edited afterwards for content or even grammar, or if it is of the nature of the blog that postings are to be left alone, a frozen picture of a past moment.

Mercurial's opinion is: "The blog, although communal, devolves the responsibility on the individual: I blog, I have opinions and I create, understand, comment on the world as I see fit. Editing the blog only dilutes the content and the raw feeling that emanates from blogs. Even grammatical flaws and weird constructions identify the writer and their style."

I haven't decided yet, having corrected the grammar, format and even erased postings in the past (for which i got reprimanded by a fellow purist blogger).

With english being my second language, i'm always extremely self-counscious of grammar mistakes - it would bother me A LOT if, knowingly, I did not make a grammar correction.

If my opinion changed after i posted the item, i guess i would follow it up with another posting, commenting on that fact.

If i decide, after i posted, that for any reason, what i said would cause more pain/trouble/annoyance than good or neutral I would definitely go back and erase it - as i have done once since i started.

WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT IF WE COULD DO THE SAME IN REAL LIFE?

if we could erase past acts we regret, things we said that hurt people we love, bad memories that haunt our sleep??

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the new Charlie Kaufman movie, to be released at the end of the year, with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, gets crazy on something like that: a time when you can have bad memories surgically removed from your brain.

"It's about this guy who finds out that his girlfriend of two years has had this surgical procedure which has erased him from her memory. So he's freaked out and trying to live with it and he can't, so he decides to have the same procedure. Most of the movie takes place in his brain as she's being erased, and you see their whole relationship, moment-by-moment, backwards from this sort of bad end to the better beginning. Halfway through, as the memories start getting better, he changes his mind and decides to save her. So he takes her out of the memories she belongs in, and puts her in memories she doesn't belong in, to try and hide her."

BUT i digress...

You can read the movie's 1st draft in PDF

RIO.

thanks mr. w for the link.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH.

via Estado de S. Paulo, i'm following the visit of Lula, Brazilian President, to Cuba to pay his respects to his idol, Fidel.

It's hard to conceive, living in the United States, that Cuba has normal diplomatic realtions with other countries. As a matter of fact, one of Lula's mission is to re-negotiate the Cuban debt with brazilian companies and the government - debts incurred not under this government, but in previous ones - right-wing ones - Brazil never ceased to do business with Cuba.

Lula is the first president to come from the Workers Party, a party that was still illegal around the time i moved to New York. It has roots in the old socialist school of thought but molded by the history of the last 20 years and by the brazilian way-of-life-and-politics.

In exchange for re-financing the debt, the president expects to guarantee brazilian monopoly of certain cuban industries like alcohol and orange juice, which the government seem to think will be easier to control after Fidel is gone - a statement that i'm surprised to see in print.

So, yes, Lula idolizes Fidel.

But i'm glad to see that 'friends are friends but business is business".

ALL NIGHT LONG.

from Page Six

(i don't want to go there but it must mean something that i'm getting information on what use to be my territory from Cindy Adams...)

"The Meatpacking District has become so trendy that one restaurant is resuming 24-hour service for the first time in 10 years. Florent Morellet - who recently helped get landmark designation for the neighborhood - is taking his brasserie Florent back to the 24-7 operation that made it popular when it opened in 1985. Hungry nightcrawlers can greet the dawn with Florent's new continental breakfast. 'The Meatpacking District is a 24-hour ecosystem - daytime is getting as busy as the nightlife,' he says. 'This is our beachhead against Starbucks.' "

YOSSI & JAGGER.

I have to agree with Stephen Holden when he calls Yossi & Jagger a "subtle and superbly realized miniature." In the center of it, 2 gay lovers who happen to be israeli soldiers crammed in a claustrophobic bunker on the border of Lebanon. But, much more than a love story, much more than a GAY love story, this is an anti-war movie. Non-sense war. And the gay love story that exists in spite of it. Compact movie, like the soldiers quarters. Subtle. Superbly acted.

Death for Adultery.

Every now and then a case makes its way into the public opinion that hits a note. Public opinion forced the Islamic Tribunal in Nigeria to re-consider the sentence imposed on this woman: she was to be buried alive up to her neck and then stoned to death because she had a baby not being married. Nigeria's population is 130M: 50% are Islamics and the other 50% Christians. Since beginning of 2002 Islamic leaders adopt a strict code to discipline the states where it rules and it has caused the death of at least 5,000 people.

Can it be pressured into changing? This case surely gives hopes.

Facing Death for Adultery, Nigerian Woman Is Acquitted
from the NYTimes

"Amina Lawal, the Nigerian peasant woman whose case became known worldwide after she was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, was acquitted today by the highest Islamic court in her state.

A roar of approval swept through the small, sweltering courtroom when a five-member panel of judges ruled 4 to 1 to overturn Ms. Lawal's conviction in a case that had heaped worldwide opprobrium on Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and one in which the split between Muslims and Christians has become increasingly sharp.

Her veiled head bowed, Ms. Lawal sat quietly, holding in her lap what had been cited as the chief evidence of her crime: her daughter, Wasila, now almost 2 years old. Ms. Lawal was to be executed as soon as she had finished weaning the child.

When a judge, Ibrahim Mai-Unguwa, finished his 60-minute recitation of the panel's ruling, Wasila let out an ear-splitting wail, as if to signal her relief.

Later in the day came cries of relief from distant corners of the world. Both Italy and Brazil had offered asylum to Ms. Lawal."

50 GENITAL-RETRACTING PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS

The Unsexy List by Nerve.com
21. Over-grooming. Being clean and neat is good. People appreciate a white smile and trimmed fingernails. If you're spending time and money getting your asshole bleached, step back for a sec.
22. Perfume/cologne. A throwback from a time when people didn't wash."

TO BE A NEW YORKER.

"No matter how long you have been here, you are a New Yorker the first time you say, That used to be Munsey's, or That used to be the Tic Toc Lounge. That before the internet cafe plugged itself in, you got your shoes resoled in the mom-and-pop operation that used to be there. You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now."

from Colson Whitehead's new book of essays, Colossus of New York.

via Gothamist

BRAZILIAN MUSIC, LOOSELY TRANSLATED

SOZINHO by Peninha

LONELY translated by Mr. V

Às vezes, no silêncio da noite Eu fico imaginando nós dois Eu fico ali sonhando acordado, juntando o antes, o agora e o depois por que você me deixa tão solto? por que você não cola em mim? Tô me sentindo muito sozinho! Não sou nem quero ser o seu dono É que um carinho às vezes cai bem Eu tenho meus segredos e planos secretos só abro pra você mais ninguém por que você me esquece e some? e se eu me interessar por alguém? e se ela, de repente, me ganha? Quando a gente gosta é claro que a gente cuida fala que me ama só que é da boca pra fora ou você me engana ou não está madura onde está você agora?

Sometimes, after night falls i lay there, thinking of us dreaming awake, trying to piece together the before, the now and the afterwards why do you leave me so alone? why do you let me so free? i'm feeling very lonely. I'm not - nor do i want to be - the owner of you it's just that i need a little affection. I have my secrets - and secret plans - i would open them up only to you. how can you not be herer? and what if i get interested in someone else? and what if he, suddenly, wins me over? When you love you take care. you tell me you love me but it's all lip service unless you are fooling me and you are just plain immature. where are you now?

Barnes Foundation.

One of my unfulfilled dreams has been to visit The Barnes Foundation. Tickets are very hard to get.
But it seems that things will change, according to today's NYTimes Editorial :

"Help is at hand - poetically enough, in a Pennsylvania orphans' court -” for the Barnes Foundation, the hideaway outside Philadelphia that houses one of the world's most highly prized but secluded art collections.

More than 300 Cezannes, Renoirs and Matisses glow pricelessly in the foundation's grand and remote treasure palace, created by Dr. Albert Barnes. A voracious, idiosyncratic collector who began his Impressionist and Post-Impressionist trove 80 years ago, Dr. Barnes had a vision of inspiring the common man with great art. But he housed the collection in an inaccessible estate and when he died, he locked it up with a will that forbade selling or moving any of the 2,000 pieces. His $10 million legacy spent, the foundation's trustees, appointed by the board of Lincoln University, a historically black institution, have been reduced to fighting bankruptcy and litigation.

A drawn-out, delicate struggle to break Dr. Barnes's will showed little promise until last week, when Lincoln's board agreed to a plan to move the collection to a new museum to be built in downtown Philadelphia. The plan, driven home by Gov. Edward Rendell, offers $150 million in pledges from leading foundations to update the Barnes as a showcase open to far more visitors. It also promises Lincoln closer academic ties to the collection and $50 million in new campus construction."

Why Bear? Or: I, Bear.

Andrew Sullivan writes about bears vs gay culture in general and, once again, dots are connected inside my head. It took me this article to fully understand what attracts me to the 'men of the eagle'. My most generic explanation was an evasive masculinity clause. Not able to fully understand what it represented I had to accept my friends jokes of 'my type' of man. I thought that maturity had made me free of the imposed beauty pattern from culture but what it did, in fact, was also make me rebel against the MUCH MORE strict beauty pattern imposed by my own peers. I hate synthetic beauty, anything that looks artificial: pierced eyebrows and huge biceps. And it makes no sense to me that my friends, most of them intelligent people, are attracted to it.

Following are some excerpts from his post, which makes for enjoyable reading in its totality:

"In the past, gay manifestations of masculinity have taken a somewhat extreme or caricatured form - from the leathermen to the huge bodybuilders. Bears, to my mind, represent a welcome calming down of this trend. They are unabashedly masculine but undemonstrative about it. They are attractive precisely because they don't try so hard. And they add to their outdoorsy gruffness an appealing interior softness. They have eschewed the rock-hard muscle torso for the round and soft and hairy belly."(...)

"Bears are simply saying that they're men first and unashamed of it. More, in fact. What they're saying is that central to the gay male experience is an actual love of men. And men are not 'boys,' they're not feminized, hairless, fatless icons on a dance floor."(...)

"In some ways, bears represent gay men's long delayed embrace of their own masculinity in its simplest and sexiest form. In other ways, they represent gay men's desire for normalcy, for a world in which their natural state of being men is neither constrained nor tortured nor contrived."

Via Andrew Sullivan I also find out this Guardian Unlimited article that asks: Is the potbelly the new gay ideal?

"But for boys? And boys involved in same-sex sexual activity? Homosexual males are traditionally the most preening, pouting, moisturised, eye-gelled, self-critical, fitted, kitted and spun-dry gym bunnies on the block. Even the ugly ones are aware that Clinique is not French for hospital. They are the only men in the western world for whom Botox has become the stuff of birthday presents. "

I HATE WHEN YOU CALL ME Papi!

LATINO VS HISPANIC

Being Brasilian (and not born speaking spanish) i've found myself thinking about this issue often.

It was not until recently that i discussed it with a spanish speaking person who filled me in on the cultural content of both terms.

It made it a little more confusing - what should i mark on my census questionaire?

BTW, born and raised in Brazil it was not until i moved to NY that i found out i was not 'white'.
It came as a shock to me.

via mercurial

NOT TO GO ON AND ON...

...BUT WE HAVE THE SAME TATOO.

mr. df, let's make an appointment?

after our liquid brunch yesterday...
BECAUSE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO GET WASTED
IN ORDER TO DESERVE SOME REHAB.
BODY CENTRAL: "one of the more blissful combinations of Swedish massage, reflexology, and dry brushing -- a treatment custom-designed to detoxify the lymph system, cleanse the body of impurities, and purportedly skedaddle fat cells."

ISABEL.

Hurricane Isabel, viewed by the international space station as it orbits over the storm.

THE NEW SEX GOD.

"Calvin Klein Underwear has a new face
-- if you choose to look at it --
in sexy U.K. soccer player Freddie Ljungberg." (movie)

but we will never forget...

Friendster Message

from mr. c

> Alright my friend,
V: we are friends now, humm?
> I switched up my profile to reflect myseld a little more. I don't want to send out mixed messages.
V: now i feel guilty. you should not listen to me. ask my friends...
> Anyway, the Raul Julia reference:
a- he's a hottie
V: flattered.
> b- Just the feeling
V: again: humm?
> I am curious to hear what you think of the updated profile. I want meet a down to earth, cool, independent thinking guy. Of course I want to be physically attracted...Does it project that?
V: but mine would be a biased opinion. it would be what mr. v thinks of mr. c. and i think he already likes what he has read. or what he PERCEIVES to be mr. c.
mr. v likes the fact he has tonned down his profile, he gets points for that. but mr. v thinks, above all, mr. c should be true to what he is (and what he is looking for) or he will attract the wrong kind of people. believe me: it's a waste of time. think first - be true to yourself - and then he will come around. (BUT, again, do not take my word on that: i'm still waiting for him too)(not to say i am TOTALLY true to myself)(i know, i told you in the beggining, do not listen to me. ask my friends...)

btw - i'm blogging this: that's what you get for calling me friend...

WE WERE SO COOL.

BAR DO LULU (a maneira de Fernando Pessoa e Noel Rosa)
by Otavio Ramos

"O bar do Lulu solta fogo pelas ventas.
Madrugada insinua ansias lentas.

A juke-box desfila Perfume de Gardenia
- me alegro ao som do bolero plangente -
beijo na boca uma negra do Kenia
(nada do que é humano me é indiferente)."

FATE vs. PREDESTINATION.

between the logarithm formula that tells me how many friends i can have
(log(N) = 0.093 3.389 log(CR) (1) (r2=0.764, t34=10.35, p<0.001))
and the bellow text on the chemicals our body releases when at the west side club, i ask, in 'carrie' mode:
FATE vs. PREDESTINATION:how much freedom there is from dna?

from: If the Buddha Dated by Charlotte Kasl

BIOCHEMISTRY 101: INTIMACY, THE LACK THEREOF, AND OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

According to Paul Pearsall, author of Sexual Healing, the biochemical response to constant infatuation, being "in-love", or seeking a sexual high without an authentic persona; connection leads us to produce large amounts of epinephrine, which creates chronic autonomic agitation or feelings of restlessness and nervousness. This, in turn, can result in irritability, fatigue, and the breakdown of the immune system, leading to chronic anxiety and depression. This experience truly is love-sickness. When people get hooked on the epinephrine high and seek only the thrill, just about anyone will do. Pearsall writes,"Hot reactive sex followed by cool feelings of regret or loneliness can eventually teach our immune system to be as... disconnected as we have been in our intimate decisions." On the other hand, when we create a mindful, loving, personal connection with another, and we are sexually attracted to that person, our bodies produce the hormone oxytocin, which contributes to feelings of intense closeness, thrust and sensual feelings.Incidentally, oxytocin is the same hormone that is secreted when a mother nurses her baby. According to Pearsall, "it's the neurochemical of intimate connection that also helps balance the immune system". It takes nearly four years of a growing, reciprocal, loving union for our bodies to stop creating a epinephrine high and secret oxytocin instead, which means that many people never have the experience of intense intimacy. When we combine the knowledge of our biochemistry with our spiritual knowledge, we can see that what is good for our spiritual journey is good for our relationships and for our immune system. There is no separation between the three. It's as is our bodies are begging us to love well, use our intelligence, and be wise in our choices.

MY FAVORITE SONGS.

You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart by Eurythmics.

Take me to the desert
Where there's got to be
A whole heap of nothing
For you and me
Take me to the desert
Take me to the sand
Show me the colour of your right hand.
Love is a temple
Love is a shrine
Buy some love at the five and dime
A little bit of love
From the counter store
Get it on credit if you need some more.
I'll be the figure of your disgrace
A criss cross pattern upon your face
A woman's just too tired to think
About the dirty old dishes in the kitchen sink.
I wish I were invisible
So I could climb through the telephone
When it hurts my ear
And it hurts my brain
And it makes me feel too much
Too much too much too much.
Don't cut me down
When I'm talking to you
'Cause I'm much too tall
To feel that small.
Love is a temple
Love is a shrine
Love is pure
And love is blind
Love is a religious sign
I'm gonna leave this love behind.
Love is hot and love is cold
I've been bought and I've been sold
Love is rock and love is roll
I just want someone to hold

SUMMERTIME.

...and the fridays are easy...
only one more left 'till fall.

GOOGLISM.

WHO IS VASCO?

vasco is $7
vasco is very handsome and i love him
vasco is infamous for holding a grudge against those who have crossed him
vasco is driven almost to exhaustion in his search for truth and self discovery
vasco is in despair for the world but blessed with optimism
vasco is starting to get nervous
vasco is very known for his texts quite explicit about sex and drugs and also in this exhibition he didn't contradict himself

I LOVE NY II.

Blood on the Street, and It's Chic

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated
the Gansevoort Market section of Manhattan as a historic district.
via gothamist

I LOVE NY.

Tuna Fish Buns & Lotus Mooncakes @ Dragon Land Bakery (125 Walker Street)
thanks mr. alo for opening up chinatown doors for me.

SEPTEMBER 11.

"There are places I remember All my life, though some have changed. Some forever, not for better. Some have gone and some remain. All these places had their moments, With lovers and friends I still can recall. Some are dead and some are living, In my life I've loved them al" "I regard such terrible destructive actions as acts of hatred, for violence is the result of destructive emotions. Events of this kind make clear that if we allow our human intelligence to be guided and controlled by negative emotions like hatred, the consequences are disastrous." read His Holiness the Dalai Lama's complete message

NOT A TOTAL LOOSER YET.

25 %

My weblog owns 25 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?
via Mercurial

FRIENDS & FRIENDSHIP
or
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
or
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
or
IS THE SIZE OF MY NEOCORTEX THE ONLY CONSTRAINT ON THE NUMBER OF FRIENDS I HAVE?

"Evidence in primates suggests that the size of social groups is constrained by cognitive capacity as measured by brain size. After a point, the number and nature of group relationships becomes too complex and groups tend to grown unstable and fission. Based on these projections, human beings should reach a 'natural' cognitive limit when group size reaches about 150. There is extensive empirical evidence of social groupings of about this size in the anthropological literature. It is suggested that language arose as a means of enabling social interactions in large groups as a more efficient substitute for one-on-one social grooming in primates."

It seems that Friendster is a lot more than we first thought it could be. What simply started as a new way to hook-up, some people are theorizing, is the Social Software that will enable us to handle and deal with how we will relate to each other, or more specifically, how we will relate within our social network in the near future, taking in consideration all the new 'distances' (not, by any means, restrict to geographic ones) created by technology and its demands on us.

"Keeping up social relations is not simply about remembering everyone you've met or having a structure to keep track of them. It is also about having the time and ability to manage those relationships, keep information flowing, etc. Social networks are not simply about people that you can store to use as appropriate. Thus, i don't fundamentally believe that an augmented version of your network will give you the tools necessary to maintain more meaningful contacts."

This discussion comes at a time when i have been questioning what it means to be friends. Not that I use Friendster that much but it certainly has marked the beginning of a new era in social management. Beyond the sociological discussion it has also started a new software rush. Expect to see many new sites like it as in sixdegrees.com which appropriates the concept down to the name that Friendster only implied.

Apparently the anthropologist Robin Dunbar detected a cap in one's social network: he said that people can maintain up to 150 weak ties at any given point in time. 150 people, weak ties... The energy spent on maintaining those relationships... I know it is a status symbol to be popular - it's 'desirable' to have lots of 'friendsters'. But what does it say about a person? Can you seriously say you have 200 friends (the limit imposed on Friendster, not sure what's based on...)? Can you seriously say you have 20 friends?

Give me four true, meaningful friends.

I want friends i can talk to openly about me and about themselves. I want friends that will know me AND understand me even if by that i mean ACCEPT ME. I want friends i will know and understand AND ACCEPT as they are. Moles and all. It takes time and it takes an investment of time and emotion.

I want to be able to call you 'MY FRIEND'.

---

"THE SIZE OF MY NEOCORTEX" MORE RELATED READINGS:
Co-evolution of neocortex size, group size and language in humans R.I.M. Dunbar
More than one hundred and fifty Mercurial
The Magic of 150 Common Sense Advice
On Joining Friendster DaveXtreme

"525,600 minutes, 525,600 moments so dear:
HOW DO YOU MEASURE A YEAR?
In daylights. In sunsets. In midnights. In cups of coffee. In inches. In miles. In laughter. In strife.
In 525,600 minutes.
How do you measure a year in the life ? How about love?
Measure in love, seasons of love...

525,600 minutes, 525,600 journeys to plan:
How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?
In truths that he learned or in times that he cried?
In bridges he burned or the way that he died?
It's time now to sing out - tho' the story never ends - let's celebrate!

Remember a year in the life of friends.
Remember the love, measure in love
MEASURE YOUR LIFE IN LOVE"

What God has joined together let no man put asunder

MY FAVORITE SONGS
LET NO MAN PUT ASUNDER
by First Choice
Frankie Knuckles Vocal Remix

I'm surprised to see your suitcase at the door
Remember the good times don't you want some more
It's not a perfect love but I'll defend it
Cause I believe that's what God intended

We got love too good to throw away

It's not over between you and me
It's not over don't want to be free

Genitalia

BAD PORTUGUESE WORDS: CHAVASCA

I AM NOT DEPRESSED

My friend Aurinha, a therapist in Belo Horizonte, would always get mad at our MISAPPROPRIATION of the word 'depressed'.

She use to ask:
Did you get out of bed today?
Did you open the shades?
Did you take a shower?
Did you shave?
Did you eat today?

"Then, you're NOT depressed", she would decide.

Biology Dictionary: DEPRESSION

Definition: Depression is the mental state of excessive sadness characterized by persistently low mood or extensive loss of pleasure and interest. To be considered a clinical condition, depression symptoms must have a duration of at least 2 weeks and include: decreases or sometimes increases in weight, agitated or sluggish activity, disturbance in sleep, appetite, and concentration."

Yahoo! Mail - jvascony@yahoo.com

PERCEPTION
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 12:20:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: mr. si
Subject: Re: thank you, mr. si

:-) everyone gets depressed... each of us for
different reasons. you are not boring... you are
always on the go. how can you be boring?

word of the day.

CATALYST
DEFINITION: something that brings about a change in something else
EXAMPLE: That's it! I've had with it. Let's move on.
SYNONYMS: accelerator, ferment, leaven

TAKASHI MURAKAMI

TAKASHI MURAKAMI
AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER

pic from Gothamist
Arts Briefing: "Mr. Pointy will be there. So will two giant balloons and a garden of mushrooms and flowers for visitors to sit on. The colorful attraction, part of which is above, under workers' care in Japan, is the outdoor art exhibition 'Takashi Murakami at Rockefeller Center: Reversed Double Helix,' opening today at Rockefeller Center and continuing through Oct. 12. Mr. Pointy, known in Japanese as Tongari-kun, is a 30-foot-tall Buddha-like sculpture that surveys 30 Rockefeller Plaza from a froglike perch. The balloons, each 30 feet in diameter, will be floating 60 feet above the Rockefeller Center ice rink."

GINA AND SINVAL'S WEDDING

We have been back for 10 days now and i've been trying to put together a site that would do justice to all the fun we had in Las Vegas. Once again, my high standards have made me loose so much time by driving me away from simple answers...

For now, this will have to do.

Gothamist

RETRACTION

"The authors of a US study that said Ecstasy caused brain damage had to issue this statement:

We write to retract our report...following our recent discovery that the drug used to treat all but one animal in that report came from a bottle that contained methamphetamine instead of the intended drug (Ecstasy).

D'oh! They did add, 'this apparent labelling error does not call into question the results of multiple previous studies demonstrating the serotonin neurotoxic potential of MDMA (Ecstasy) in various animal species, including several nonhuman primate species.'

Damn, like anyone is listening past the first admission that the study is wrong."

Quotes

"The opposite of loneliness, it's not togetherness. It is intimacy."
R. Bach

YOUR JOKING!
FROM CRAIGSLIST
Grammar Lesson
Lesson One: Your vs. You're


Let's get this straight once and for all, you offensive conglomerate of illiterates.

Your - belonging to you, e.g. - Your ass is ignant and shit.

You're - contraction from You+are (standing for, ironically, "you are"), e.g. - You're an ignant ass.

If you're still confused, let me use examples from your earlier posts, now corrected.

• damn, you're sexy


• you suck you suck you suck you're fucked up


• Discreet Encounter with Hot Hung Italian Deepthroat Swallower Will Swallow all your juice


• You: looking for 200+ porn dvds, I want your dirty underwear. [barter]
  
  and for advanced posters only:


• You're out of your mind.

Next week's lesson: Capitalization and Punctuation.

7 DE SETEMBRO:
INDEPENDENCIA DO BRASIL


Today is Brazil's '4th of July' and a quick scan through major brazilian newspapers produces almost nothing - articles. pictures, mentions...
What does it mean?
At least in the US, Independence Day has become the National Day of Barbecue & Fireworks.

At the Brazilian Consulate in New York's web site there are 2 cerimonies listed: a mass (separation of church and state does not exist in Brazil) and some sort of civical thing in front of the statue of Jose Bonifacio that, weirdly and for no special reason, sits at the entance of Bryant Park on 6th Ave.





"Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva: was a Brazilian statesman and scientist, often referred to as 'The Greatest Man in Brazilian History' was born in Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1763. Some say that in Brazilian history, Jose Bonifacio is what Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and George Washington were in the history of the United States but all combined into one person."

CLIPPINGS FROM SUNDAY'S NYTimes.

---

VOWS: Janis Ian and Patricia Snyder

---

SLIDE SHOW:
Where Here Ends and There Begins
"The history of the past two years has increased the talismanic potency of borders in our minds. And yet despite the terminal rigidity of those most oppressive borders -- former iron curtains, military checkpoints, the wall now rising between Israelis and Palestinians -- the fact is that many of the political borders on this divvied-up globe must look something like the ones in these photographs."

---

I LOVE NY
CASSANDRA WILSON
Battery Park, Sunday afternoon at 2; free
"Ms. Wilson, a jazz singer at heart though she's become much broader than the term implies, surrounds herself with an imaginative, magicked-up idea of American rural music. While her last album was mostly covers in the service of a Southern theme, her next, 'Glamoured,' due out in a month, is covers for the sake of covers; she sings songs by Sting, Bob Dylan and Abbey Lincoln over her typically slinky, misty group sound."

---

DON'T SAY 'CHEEESE'
Canada has banned the public from smiling or frowning for passport photos, the Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday. Canadians must send a photo with 'a neutral expression'

---

REALITY POKES IDEOLOGY IN THE EYE

| weblog

I BLOG
Yesterday i wrote that my blog is an evolving personal ad. Today i find a description that enlightens it best even to myself in an excellent blog entry at plasticbag.org.

As i said before, i go on appropriating:
The weblog is the homepage that we wear

"There's not a lot of difference between weblogs and homepages in some respects. Both are spaces to put written content online, for one. But the fact that homepages had no sense of standard structure, required manual updating, were unbound from time and were resolutely non-discursive meant that they were static, lumpen. At their best they became monolithic tomes - bunkers for content, guides updated haphazardly that infinitesimally accrete 'content'. In terms of the distribution of the word, the homepage was like a 'Time Out Guide to {your name here}'. The simple addition of structure and mechanisms for ease of publishing have made the comparable form of expression on weblogs so fluid and quick that it borders on speech. In terms of self-representation, the homepage is like a statue carved out of marble labelled carefully at the bottom where the weblog is like an avatar in cyberspace that we wear like a skin. It moves with us - through it we articulate ourselves. The weblog is the homepage that we wear."

WISDOM OF THE DAY.

Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.

Groucho Marx

New Scientist

SCIENTIFIC VALIDATION

Masturbating may protect against prostate cancer

Exclusive from New Scientist


It will make you go blind. It will make your palms grow hairy. Such myths about masturbation are largely a thing of the past. But the latest research has even better news for young men: frequent self-pleasuring could protect against the most common kind of cancer.

jvg.com

THE GAMES WE PLAY
"After a couple of weeks of playing around with Friendster, I've discovered what it's best for: toying with the delicate psyches of your friends and acquaintances. Ah, the bitter joy. Ah, the delicious power.

Top Friendster Power Games:

The Pre-Rejection
You just signed up for Friendster, and you notice that I've been using it for a month, and didn't invite you. Perhaps we're just not as close as you thought we were.

The Delayed Approval
You can see by my profile that I was active yesterday. You sent me a 'new friend request' three days ago. I haven't approved it. Maybe it's because I'm waiting to see if anyone worthwhile signs up to be your friend before I commit to having you on my friends list.

The Unreciprocated Testimonial
You wrote me a very nice testimonial three weeks ago, yet your page still displays the pathetic notice: 'No testimonials yet. You can add the first!' Gosh, it looks like you're more interested in me than I am in you, doesn't it?

The Mexican Standoff
You're one of John Smith's friends. I'm one of John Smith's friends. We know each other, we can clearly see each other in the 'John Smith's Friends' page, and yet neither of us has attempted to add the other as a friend. It's a battle for status, and the first person to send the new friend request will forever be the loser."

New York Post Online Edition: news

THE DANGERS OF MAN HUNTING ONLINE (thanks Rico for forwarding it)

NET PAL'S PENIS SLASHED IN GAY TRYST from New York Post

September 4, 2003 -- A 37-year-old man was slashed on the penis while having sex with a man he met online, cops said yesterday. The victim met his attacker, who is in his 40s, on the Web site Manhunt.com and arranged to meet him at an apartment on West 35th Street on Tuesday night, cops said. During sex, the second man pulled a knife and slashed the penis of the younger man, cops said. He was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition."

Latin Grammy winners : not sure why the latin grammy has a separate 'brazilian' category - nor if i agree with it. and where are the other latin languages represented? hispanics vs latins again?

we will come back to this subject at another time...

Best Brazilian Rock Album: Longo Caminho Paralamas Do Sucesso
Best Brazlilian Contemporary Pop Album: Tribalistas
Marisa Monte, Carlinhos Brown, Arnaldo Antunes
Best Samba/Pagode Album: 'Ao Vivo,' Alcione
Best MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) Album: Eu Nao Peco Desculpa Caetano Veloso e Jorge Mautner
Best Sertaneja Album: 'Zeze Di Camargo e Luciano,' Zeze Di Camargo e Luciano
Best Brazilian Roots/Regional Album: 'Chegando De Mansinho,' Dominguinhos
Best Brazilian Song (Portuguese Language): 'Tristesse,' Milton Nascimento (Milton Nascimento e Maria Rita Mariano)
Best Latin Children's Album: 'Xuxa So Para Baixinhos 3,' Xuxa

MASTURBATION AS A METAPHOR II

-----from my mailbox-----
Re: and now, ur point???

> V... g'morning......

well ... read ur blog this a.m....
i wanted to tell you i think masturbation is a healthy thing ...
although i am responding to your blog at face value...
i do think you meant it as a metaphor for many other issues regarding self restraint ...
such as drugs.... laziness ... over indulgences ... i am curious how u relate to it ...
and why u choose that as a thought of the day...

why did it inspire you to use it so all those that read your thoughts would read it???

very curious...curious indeed....

----------

I LOVE TO READ but, most importantly, i LOVE to share with my friends things i find interesting in my readings.

My first job, 1981, while i still was in college in Belo Horizonte (Communications, which in Brazil can lead to a career in Journalism, Advertising or PR) was at the Communication Office for the State Bank of Minas Gerais.

My favorite responsibility was to read all major national newspapers and magazines and put together a 'clipping' of the news that matter for the President and Directors. Little did they know about the trotskyist in me. Little by little i started to include things that didn't matter (pictures, cartoons, cultural news...) and to expand the distribution (i.e. my friends outside the company and people i liked within the company). The day the President called my boss to complain he had not received his copy was the day i felt there was a purpose at that time: revolution will come from within....

One year later my clippings where out of hand. Most of it were news that didn't matter and the distribution list was more inflated than the country's economy: i always carried a stack in my car for the regulars at Bar do Lulu. Most importantly, i had had a conflict of interest with the trotskyist in BH: they wanted me to go under in the 'revolutionary movement' and i wanted to come out of the closet.

Fast forward 20 years and a couple of lives and i find myself in NY so appaled by the contents of my internet mailbox (mostly junk, INCLUDING and ESPECIALLY jokes, dirty pics and chain mail) that i take upon myself the QUIXOTIC task of elevating the level of the discussion by mailing 'internet clippings' to my friends. Some loved, most didn't have a comment and one asked to be removed from my list because his mailbox was already full of junk.

I guess that mailing list was this blog's relative that passed away.

I never really thought too much about my choice of clipping. They were things i found interesting. That i wanted my friends to read. SIGNPOSTS SO WE WOULD NOT LOOSE EACH OTHER BY TAKING DIFFERENT TURNS ON THE ROAD. Sellfish? Nah, just afraid we would not recognize each other at the end.

Recently, in talking with two important new people in my life - that learned so much about me so fast that i CANNOT not believe in spiritual connection (is it, then, a sign that GOD exists?) - i've come to realize that all along these clippings have been a constantly evolving PERSONAL AD. This is who I really am, these are the things that interest me: all of them. The serious AND the silly.

I'm the sum of this blog. It doesn't make sense? It's incomplete?

I know.

EVOLUTION.
I just had an insight on why i LOVED the movie "Adaptation" so much: i'm just like that screenplay writer, trying to convey too much in too little and, in the process, never finishing the story, leading him into feeling frustrated.
And the opposite of the actual book writer, who was able to convey everything from orchidae fila to the meaning of life with stops on the history of Florida in a very pleasant and accessible way.

BUT I DIGRESS...

MASTURBATION AS A METAPHOR
or
CAN FREUD EXPLAIN?
MY POSTING CHOICES

"The conscious level of mental activity is the level on which all thought processes occur. What one thinks, conceptualizes, or understands takes place on this level of activity. The pre-conscious is where information is stored away, but is easily obtainable. Fond memories and the knowledge of how to perform day-to-day activities are examples of information stored at this level. The unconscious is where memories and information are stored which cannot be accessed readily. Most of a person's past history is stored on this level of consciousness, as well as those thoughts and memories which have been put out of mind in order to preserve a person's mental stability and/or to prevent pain (repressed).

FREUD noticed the many conflicts within thought and mental processes, and the seeming battle between levels of consciousness led him to define these forces. He identified three distinct forces, which he referred to as the id, ego, and superego.

FREUD defined the id as the drive within us to bring ourselves pleasure (the pleasure principle). The id is concerned with satiating all basic urges from thirst and hunger to sexual desire, and is determined to attain satisfaction at any cost. People act on the id alone when first born, and as time progresses, they learn to suppress these desires in the interest of conventionality; they realize that a person cannot merely have whatever he/she wants whenever he/she wants it, and that the individual must act in accordance with society. A person who is very spontaneous, hedonistic, or self-centered may be a product of their id, and the inability/unwillingness to repress or suppress it. The desires of the id are often placed in the subconscious, and can manifest in dreams in order to bring about wish fulfillment, so that the individual is not psychologically damaged by the constant suppression of these thoughts and the inability to relieve the tension that causes.

The ego is what brings about one's understanding that one is a part of a society, and cannot always satisfy the urges of the id. The ego does not necessarily ignore the id, but rather governs and controls it. It often devises a plan to obtain that which the id desires; for example, responding to hunger by waiting until lunch-time and going to the store to buy a sandwich, the ego has satisfied the will of the id, but done so in a controlled manner, rather than ravenously seeking out food when hunger is first sensed. The ego is often seen as being responsible for practical and rational decision making.

The superego governs over all of these, and is often seen as the conscience. The superego is concerned with the long-term ramifications of actions, adherence to what is "right and wrong," and producing pride or guilt as a result of one's actions. The superego is often more a product of society than the individual, as society dictates what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior; it often tends to direct the individual to act in a way which is viewed as positive by society, even if at the expense of personal satisfaction.

It is clear that the mind is very rarely dominated by merely one of these forces, due to the fact that by nature they often conflict; one can see that the need to provide satisfaction with disregard for society (the id) is a polar opposite of the need to satisfy the will of society with disregard for the individual (the superego). The purpose of these different forces would seem to be providing a "check and balance" system for the mind, and insuring mental stability and personal wellbeing."

Tongue-in-Cheek

Most people have difficulty saying anything with their tongue in their cheek.
EXPLAINING TONGUE-IN-CHEEK
But some people actually do stick their tongue against the inside of their cheek after saying a joke to show that they're only kidding.

Nerve.com - Scanner by the Nerve Staff

Nerve.com - Scanner by the Nerve Staff:

"Relax, Don't Do It

Suggestions for overcoming the urge to masturbate, from a Mormon missionary guidebook circa 1970.

When the temptation to masturbate is strong, yell _STOP_ to those thoughts as loudly as you can in your mind and then recite a pre-chosen Scripture or sing an inspirational hymn. It is important to turn your thoughts away from the selfish need to indulge.

Make a pocket calendar for a month on a small card. Carry it with you, but show it to no one. If you have a lapse of self-control, color the day black. Your goal will be to have _no black days_. The calendar becomes a strong visual reminder of self-control and should be looked at when you are tempted to add another black day. Keep your calendar up until you have at least three clear months.

In the field of psychotherapy there is a very effective technique called _aversion therapy_. When we associate or think of something very distasteful with something which has been pleasurable, but undesirable, the distasteful thought and feeling will begin to cancel out that which was pleasurable. If you associate something very distasteful with your loss of self-control it will help you to stop the act. For example, if you are tempted to masturbate, think of having to bathe in a tub of worms, and eat several of them as you do the act.

During your toileting and shower activities, leave the bathroom door or shower curtain partly open, to discourage being alone in total privacy. Take cool, brief showers.

Arise immediately in the mornings. Do not lie in bed awake, no matter what time of day it is. Get up and do something. Start each day with an enthusiastic activity.

Keep your bladder empty. Refrain from drinking large amounts of fluids before retiring.

Reduce the amount of spices and condiments in your food. Eat as lightly as possible at night.

Wear pajamas that are difficult to open, yet loose and not binding.

Avoid people, situations, pictures or reading materials that might create sexual excitement.

It is sometimes helpful to have a physical object to use in overcoming this problem. A Book of Mormon, firmly held in hand, even in bed at night has proven helpful in extreme cases."

Gothamist

WHAT MATTERED TO AMERICANS LAST WEEK

Thread about the most calculated kiss since Michael Jackson-Lisa Marie Presley

ALEGRIA = HAPPINESS NO MORE?

MAIL EXCHANGE WITH MR. DF

> V.... hi...
did u get to steve's?

SINVAL & I WERE THERE FROM 7PM TILL 12

how was ur day yesterday?

GOOD/NOT GOOD AS THE PARTY CONTINUED

did u have fun at alegria? i had a good time... but as i said before i went.... and i feel more commited to it now afterwards... i am ready for a long break from the partying and clubbing....

SAME HERE BUT HOW CONVENIENT YOU STILL GOT TO GO TO THIS ONE...

i am functioning better than i thought today at work... i am pretty tired... but some how i am summoning up the strength to pull it together, thank you dear god!

WE ARE PAST THE SOCIALLLY ACCEPTABLE AGE

today is renato's b-day... i am taking him to dinner tonite... to bottino...

FELIZ ANIVERSARIO RENATINHO

and i bought him a gucci belt for a gift...

A QUEEN, NONETHELESS

he gets off tonite from work at 9ish... i can't believe i have to be awake that late... but i cannot disappoint him... i am falling big time for him... yikes... thinking of dressing up in nice clothes... hiring a car service to take me to pick him up at the store with a dozen roses in my hand .... he deserves it....

HIDDEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MUNBLE JUMBO: "i am falling big time for him..."

later... Mr. DF

LOVE, MR. V.